Abuja, Nigeria (CWBN)_ The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Saturday (21st Nov) that the local economy faced off yet another recession for the third time this year, accounting the effects of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions that were set in place, during the second quarter.
The body reported that the growth rate contracted by 2.48% from January to September, effectively worse off than the last time the economy contracted in 2016 by about 1.62%. The third quarter stood at negative 3.62% which was a slight improvement over the previous quarter which hit negative 6.1%.
The recession faced in 2016 was the first faced following a decline that took hold between 2002 and 2004, as per World Bank statistics. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, Nigeria’s economic growth stood at about 2.21%.
Nigeria has significant investments in the oil export sector. During the third quarter, oil production was 1.67 million barrels per day, which is about 0.14 million less than the second quarter average of 1.81 barrels. During the third quarter the GDP contribution by the oil sector was around 8.73%, indicating a 1.04% decline compared to the same quarter in 2019.
Nonetheless, the economy is expected to pull itself out of recession by next year, depending on the direction the pandemic blows.
